program in other circumstances.
It may also help to make you aware that there are some things going on
within your computer that you are glad to know about.
Anti-spyware Programs
Spyware is a term that covers a range of programs which may produce spam
or harvest your personal information including financial transactions,
passwords, sites that you visit and the type of files that you download or
view.
Anti-spyware programs seem to be almost as numerous as the malware they
try to protect us against. Some are free but most of the others are low-cost
for the important job they do for us.
These programs also need to be kept up to date.
Anti-malware Programs
Of course, the different types of programs that I’ve already mentioned are
anti-malware programs too. But, I’ve seen some new programs which are
called by this specific title.
The main difference that I’ve noticed is that they don’t find and remove any
sort of malware that is already on your computer when you install them.
They monitor all new programs and files coming from the Internet which try
to install themselves on your computer.
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There’s likely to be some cross-over in functions between some of these
programs and, say, anti-virus programs but they are worth checking out.
Anti-spam programs
I’ve been happy just using the spam-reducing features of my email program
but there are a number of programs that try to reduce it before it gets to
you.
1. Only messages from “friends” (whose addresses you have already
approved) get through with some programs. They block all messages
and tell the sender that the message will be submitted for approval to
you. The sender may be given an opportunity to send a brief message
that you see before you decide whether to open the email.
Some of these programs advertise the service they provide to each
sender when they offer them the opportunity to send that short message
to you and also when they notify the senders of messages that you
approve.
2. Other programs have on-line databases of user-notified spam
messages which they will remove from your incoming emails.
3. There are also programs which have definitions which they test your
incoming messages against.
More Ways to Reduce Spam.
o Use the spam-reducing features of your email program.
o Don’t sign up to an email newsletter unless you are sure that it will be
useful to you and the supplier will not share your information.
Carefully read the forms you subscribe through.
o Review all subscriptions at least every month and unsubscribe from
any you don’t need or read.
o One way to check whether your information is being passed around is
to use different variation on your name in the subscription form;
o
Mr J Williams
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o
J Williams
o
J (A to Z) Williams
o
John Williams
o
John WIlliams (yes, that upper-case “I” is deliberate)
If you start getting email from people or organizations that you never heard
of, to a particular version of your address, you can be fairly sure that the
person you gave that address either shared it with the spammers or that
their email account has been breached, possibly by a trojan or virus.
Your Email Program
Your email program is a vital part of your equipment but many people,
possibly because they get it for free, take it for granted unless there’s a
problem. And, they never try to use any protective or time-saving features
that the developers may have spent months building in to it.
Some email programs contain functions that feature in anti-spam programs
that you have to pay for but they’re often ignored by many users of the email
program.
One thing your email program cannot do is stop you from subscribing from
lots of email lists. You may need to check your inbox every so often and
unsubscribe from those newsletters which you don’t need or read any more.
If it’s no longer important for your personal or business interests, or you just
can’t spare the time to read it, save some bandwidth and disk space –
unsubscribe today.
The less clutter in your email account, the easier it is to spot and remove the
spam and possibly malicious emails.
Fortunately, you can see enough information in the header of the message to
be confident that you can delete it without opening it.
In fact, many email programs will let you examine the headline of each
message before you even download it from your email service provider. So,
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you can delete it right there and it never has a chance to clutter or infect
your computer!
That sort of feature is worth paying for.
If your anti-virus program is able to scan your emails, make sure that you
set up the link between the email program and anti-virus programs.
Email Programs
PocoMail
http://www.pocosystems.com/ A robust, self-contained, multi-featured email program.
Pegasus Mail
http://www.pmail.com/ One of the earliest email programs, regularly updated, with a huge, dedicated user base - and it’s completely free!
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Protecting the Family
The Internet is a boundless and ever-growing resource of information and
entertainment for people of all ages.
Most parents who have the financial resources, give their children a computer
of their own, to make use of that information for their school-work and also
to provide high quality entertainment.
But, they also know, from press reports and government warnings, that
there are potentially serious risks in doing that.
It is unrealistic to think that you can isolate your children from the Internet
unless your whole community has no access. They will get online through
their school or other government facility, or with the help of friends whose
parents have allowed them access.
How do you protect them from harm or bad influences?
The first requirement is to set an example that they can follow. Children will
copy your actions more than your words. If you tell them what they should
do but show that you don’t abide by those standards yourself, you can
expect disappointment or worse as they follow your example.
You should try to ensure that there is mutual trust and respect but you also
should maintain a watching brief on your children’s Net activities.
Put the computer in a fairly public part of your home, with enough screening
that it does not interfere with other family members’ activities nearby and
that they don’t reduce your children’s Net experience.
Don’t intrude or supervise but be alert for any negative signs that seem to
arise from their computer activities.
You might want to install software that restricts access to sites that might be
inappropriate for young children. I believe that most of those software
packages are a waste of money – many children can beat the restrictions in
just a few minutes and the presence of the censorious software may act as a
goad for your child to do just that.
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Discuss with your children media reports about the risks of Net surfing and
how you and they can protect yourselves from them as far as possible.
One rule is probably the only one that is absolutely essential – they should
never put any personal information on any website or in an email without
discussing that with you first.
Be ready to discuss any topic or incident that your child wants to talk about.
Just as you would if it had nothing to do with the Internet.
Protecting Your Original Work on the Internet
The best advice is, “Don’t put anything on the Internet that you can’t afford
to lose.”
Many people have a personal web site, and they may also have one which is
related to their business.
You should realize that anything you put on that web site may be mis-used,
often without your knowledge.
Some people will re-publish your words, pictures or even your whole web site
as their work.
Someone might publish some of your material in another country and not on
the Internet.
Your photos may be used for many purposes you never even thought of. If
you’re good-looking, someone may use your image as their own on social
web sites!
This is illegal but laws differ in various countries. It may not be possible to
get any action taken or penalties imposed. But, I’ve found that most hosting
providers, provided you approach them in a reasonable manner and supply
documentation, will act to have any suspect material removed. That could
take weeks, of course.
But, you may never even know the material has been mis-used.!
Even if you find out, getting the matter put right can cost money, time and
be very stressful.
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“Free” can be EXPENSIVE!
There are many great bargains that you can get from the Internet but there’s
usually some sort of cost.
It might be money, or that you have to subscribe to the supplier’s email
newsletter.
Sometimes, as happens with many software programs, there is no charge
but a request to donate some amount to help with further development of
the program if you can.
Many things are really a gift, just like the sign says.
But, there are also many offers which don’t have a price tag but will cost you
plenty.
An extreme example that was reported recently happened in the real world,
but demonstrated the perils of using equipment that you don’t know the
origin of.
Several employees of a large American corporation found small USB sticks, a
storage device which plugs into almost any computer and has enough Ram to
store, for example, hours of music.
Most of them did not report their lucky finds but rushed inside the building to
their desk where they plugged the devices into their work computers.
I don’t know what they found on their new storage devices but a hidden load
– a virus – was instantly injected directly into the highly protected corporate
computer system.
The company’s own employees had carried in the modern equivalent of
several Trojan horses and whoever planted the sticks in the area around the
building was probably downloading the confidential information he wanted
within an hour at a cost of a couple of hundred dollars for the almost
untraceable devices.
You may not have highly sensitive corporate information on your computer at
work or at home but please take this story with you and always check any
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new disk or device, whatever its source, with the best security software that
you can.
If you do use a corporate network, never put any program or other file on
the system without explicit approval from your system administrator.
The consequences for your employer and your future employment could be
serious.
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Seeking Just Friends and Fun
The current boom in online socializing sites, from chat rooms to the likes of
YouTube, MySpace and whatever new concept has burst on to the scene
since Saturday, is an extension of something that has been a very popular
part of the Internet from its first public incarnation.
People want to meet other people, many want to show off themselves, their
accomplishments or something outrageous that they do and many more
people enjoy watching them do that.
But, all these places harbor risks for the unwary or the over-excited.
When you first sign up and log in to the wildly popular site, you may be
flattered to get invitations from many other Members to join their lists of
“Friends”.
It’s not because they like” you, it’s to increase the number of people that link
to their information pages. Some, of course, could be very helpful and great
fun to interact with on the site. Some may have darker motives.
Chat rooms have been the beginning of a lot of relationships. Many of them
have been extended to off-line meetings with a wider range of results, good
and especially, bad.
One reason for that is that people can assume any persona and almost any
form on the Net. It’s naturally highly attractive to social misfits and those
who have little success, for various reasons, in establishing successful offline
relationships.
It’s common for people to use other people’s pictures and even false names
and other details when they meet new people on the social sites.
Some will even pretend to be younger, a different sex or whatever it takes to
attract the type of person that they desire.
This is one of the real dangers for young children venturing into the Net while
still forming their own values.
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Experienced predators know what to say and they can, if necessary, change
the voice they use to say it with freely available software.
But, these same techniques are successful with more experienced and older
people too. The enticements might change but the tested tactics still work.
And, if the intended victim realizes something is going badly and backs away,
the predator may try to reach them off-line and get some revenge for being
“let down”.
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“Save Money and Live Longer”
With the ever increasing costs of medicines, many people are tempted to try
the offers which flood into the e-mail box or can be found around the
Internet.
But there are many risks when you take this path just to try saving a few
dollars.
You may never receive any product. That can be better than some of the
rubbish which some people have received and even risked their lives by
taking.
Your use of the product will be entirely at your own risk. Do you know the
potential side effects?
Even if you're medicine is accompanied by some directions, the person that
wrote them has no idea at all of your physical state or medical history. Even
if the product supplied is legitimate, you may face significant risk of a
negative reaction between that product and whatever other medications that
you are taking.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the product you get will have the
correct strength of the active ingredients or, in fact, have any active or useful ingredients in it. That's another way that some producers increase their
profits at your expense.
The source of the product that you receive is not guaranteed. Some
producers have been discovered using sub-standard ingredients and very
unhygienic equipment to produce products that give them the highest
possible financial return.
If it's starting to sound like the cost of consulting your doctor is probably
good insurance, I'd have to agree.
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The Enemy – Software
Viruses
A computer virus is a program that arrives uninvited and unknown with
another file that you deliberately put on to your computer.
Some viruses are not destructive but there have been some which were only
intended to, for instance, put a message onto the screen, which were badly
written and caused damage as great as other intentionally damaging ones!
Computer viruses can destroy or damage files on your computer even ones
that are essential for your computer’s ability to operate.
They are called viruses because the reproduce themselves and spread to
other computers by attaching to files that you send from your computer;
emails, business documents and other files.
Worms
Worms can reproduce themselves and spread through a computer network
without piggy-backing onto other files. They may damage files like viruses or
just seriously reduce the efficiency of a network because the rapidly growing
number of copies absorbs most of the resources that are available to the
network.
Even very large networks can be brought down in a short time.
Spyware
These programs capture information that is on your computer and some may
record the actual keystrokes that you type, including passwords and other
sensitive information.
This is then sent through your Internet connection to the hacker that
released the malicious program. The effects, like theft from your bank
accounts, can be short-term or long term. Some operators will set up small,
regular withdrawals from your account, taking advantage of people who don’t
always check the details of their financial statements.
Other criminals will try to get everything that they can out of your account in
short order.
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Sometimes, spyware is used to gather data about the types of sites which
you visit so that you can be targeted with appropriate advertising.
Trojans
These programs come on to your computer when you get a file that has been
infected or produced with the trojan aboard.
They may do any of the things I listed for viruses and worms. Other trojans
are designed to:
× install or exploit access points on your computer
× send spam emails through your system for which you could be blamed
× make your computer act as a relay for a “denial of service attack”
where the hacker uses the resources of maybe thousands of infected
computers to flood a large network with the aim of making it crash
× gathering email addresses from your system for the hacker to send
infected emails to
…. The possibilities are endless and all bad!
Email Hazards
Attachments
Email attachments are a classic way of introducing viruses and other nasties
to your computer.
Always scan all emails that you get and be very careful with ALL attachments
even if they appear to come from people you know well and trust.
One possible problem is that your friend’s computer may have been infected
with a virus or trojan that is sending emails with infected attachments to
everyone in your friend’s email address book without them knowing anything
about it!
Links
Never click on any link in an email. Someone told me the other day that he’d
done that regularly for two years without any problems. I hope he never
does have a problem because I’ve heard from technicians about serious
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consequences they’ve been asked to try, often unsuccessfully, to repair after
just one bad link was clicked.
If you get an email that seems to be genuine and urgent, grab the phone
book and contact the company or person by phone or by opening a new
browser window and typing in their website address (no surprise to me if that
is just slightly different to the address in that unexpected email!)
Emails may be in plain text or HTML (web page) format. The text format is
less likely to hold any dangers.
But, sometimes you get an email where the whole email is actually a picture.
That’s a technique that spammers use to avoid their words being detected by
anti-spam filters that would then trash the email.
I am told that those pictures may also carry malicious code.
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Web Site Dangers
One of the security progra